PARKER

I stole my dad's car keys.

Driving over, I couldn't listen to any music. Every single song reminded me of Lizzie and I couldn't start weeping like a baby because I had to drive and if I wrecked the car, my dad would find out I took it without his permission and then, I'd be total dead meat.

I parked right in front of Miss Patty's salon, got out of the car and sat in front of the door. My legs sprawled out across the freezing sidewalk. My jeans felt wet, that was how cold the pavement was at night. Leaning my back against the door, I stared at all the Halloween decorations and the lights tangled up in the trees. In the distance, I could hear the rock music blaring from the bar down the street. Every now and then, someone would laugh loud enough to reach me.

The spot beside me glared at me.

The emptiness around me matched the void in my chest.

Looking down at my phone, I didn't see a single person in my contacts that wanted to talk to me. Maybe Emily, but that was just because she wanted something from me. Thinking about talking to her gave me a headache.

My temper flared like a sparked match and with all my strength, I chucked my phone across the street. In the next split second, I cursed as all the color in my face drained. "My phone!" I yelped and fumbled to stand up quickly and retrieved it, honestly forgetting to look both ways before I crossed the street. I brushed off the dirt and thanked God she didn't crack my phone. I kissed my fingers and pointed at the sky.

Putting my phone away before I got any more crazy ideas, I sat back in my corner which started to feel like a timeout corner and I just pulled my legs to my chest and rested my cheek. Without music. Without anything to listen to, I was left with all this empty space to think and obsess.

I replayed the last few hours over and over again, kicking myself for what I said. Why didn't I think a little first before I just word vomited the first thing that came to mind? Lizzie was too honest. I wished she lied to me and told me she wanted to break up because she took Camille's side or she decided she didn't like redheads. Why did she have to tell me she didn't like me? The me right now. I couldn't help that.

"Parker?" Miss Patty spoke up as he approached the door. He cocked his head. Tonight, he was wrapped up in a checkered coat that kind of looked like my grandmother's quilt. "What's going on sweetie?"

Taking to my feet, I rummaged through my bag and quickly tried to explain. My hands shook as I tried to find that box. I don't know why they were shaking. The second I got home it felt like the right thing to do. It was the reason I drove here at the dead of night, still wearing my work uniform without my dad's permission.

"I've kind of fucked up absolutely everything in my life so..." I pulled out an old shoe box and dropped the cardboard, revealing Miss Patty's tiara. The little crystals caught the light and hit my eyes, making them well up. "So, uh..." I suddenly lost my breath. "I thought you should have this back because I don't deserve it and honestly, I'm pretty sure I'll somehow break it and then, you'll never wanna talk to me again like everyone else in my life."

Miss Patty blinked.

He dropped his bags and put his big warm hands over mine. "Keep it. It's not midnight yet. Cinderella still needs it for the ball." He patted my hand with a smile. "Come inside. You can't drink anything, but the water on tap isn't bad."

I lowered my arm, holding the tiara in both of my hands. Relief flooded my body and I released the breath I had a stranglehold on, letting all my tension go. I guess a part of me didn't want to give up yet. The tiara, I mean.

Obviously.

Miss Patty brought me into the quiet salon, and we sat on one of the old couches, surrounded by the mannequins and the Halloween decorations in front of the window. I had cried so much, the tears were gone, but when the waterworks were over, I traded it for a pounding headache.

"It's not good," Miss Patty warned me as he handed me a cup of something in a mug that read Gay Juice. He smiled. "But you seem cold."

"That's me," I said, a shudder rippling through my body as I sucked in a needed breath. "The cold girl with no friends and no girlfriend."

"Are you saying we're not friends?" He feigned insult, pressing his hand to his chest as he plopped down on the armchair across from me. He crossed his legs, bringing his own mug to his lips. "Don't talk about my friend like that. It's rude and I won't stand for it."

I took a sip of the light-ish dark-ish tea that smelled like Fruit Loops but tasted exactly like liquified dryer lint. "Ugh," I gagged, but drank again because it tickled my nose and made me feel something other than miserable...

No. Nothing made it better.

Dropping my head, I admitted, "I said the opposite of everything I wanted to say..."

"What would you have said?"

"Well..." I stood up. "I wouldn't have brought up Emily because that's always been a bad move. Bringing up Emily was like bringing up the boogeyman to Lizzie, but if I did mention her, I'd say I don't like Emily like that anymore, not the way I like Lizzie. Then," I threw my arms up, "I'd say that I really don't care if people know we're fake dating cause like who cares if it's fake or real or not!"

"But that's not what you said."

"No..."

"What happened instead?"

"I got mad. I was embarrassed, I guess and I..." My lips trembled as my jaw tightened and the tears welled up in my eyes. I dropped to my hindlegs and hid my face with my sleeve. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," Miss Patty said, before he grunted as he got up from his seat. He joined me on the floor and continued to sip on his tea. He sat with me for as long as the salon was open, long after the awful break-up tea had gone ice cold. Cold as me.  

#

"Just tell me what to do," I pleaded, no longer caring how desperate or pathetic I looked. I was WAY past having dignity. I hung across the top of the "Bad Advice and Hot chocolate" booth on my knees, feeling crazy and frayed and all over the place. This morning, I left the house in sweatpants, sandals with striped socks, a sweatshirt underneath one of my longer pea-coat and a baseball cap to hide my greasy hair.

I'll say it again:

Sweatpants in public. 

The Jensen twins, Crissy and Mitchell, sat behind the table as usual with their solemn little faces. Crissy raised her brow, eyeing her twin in a silent meeting of the minds. Mitchell just nodded and started pouring me a whole thermos of hot chocolate, dropping two handfuls of marshmallows at the top.

"Just tell me and I'll do anything..." I groaned and turned my head up at them. Behind them, I locked eyes with their mom who worked at the law office next door. She had a confused look on her face, but I just smiled and waved, which she hesitantly returned.

I had just spent the last half hour explaining Lizzie and me's entire love affair. The twins were great listeners, never interrupting. Only asking me to wait if they got another customer and then, they'd ask me to resume spiraling. I gave them a whole ten dollars.

"Parker," Crissy started, speaking behind her giant pink muffler. They were both bundled up as usual. Her voice was hesitant as if she was nervous about my reaction. "Have you thought about... I don't know, actually telling everyone how you feel?"

"Yeah," Mitchell agreed. "You could try being a little vulnerable."

"What?!" I gawked, jumping back to my feet. "Are you crazy? That's your worst advice yet! You shouldn't tell people that crap. I'm calling the police." It was like they just told me to put a gun in my enemy's hand and hold my arms up for them to shoot me.

"Just think about it," Mitchell said, the picture of calm.

"And this is nonrefundable advice," Crissy reminded me as she took their jar of cash and hid it under the table.

"What are you gonna do with all those costumes anyways? It's not like you're gonna throw them out."

"Right, right, the costumes..." I considered as I took a swig of their perfect hot chocolate, when the light-bulb flickered over my head. Sugar always inspired my best ideas. "You're right! It's not enough to throw them out. I need to dispose of them the right way, the proper way."

"That's not what he said," Crissy spoke up, but I was already trudging back to my car.

#

Thankfully, no one was home, but Hayden really only left his room for food. He wouldn't venture into the kitchen for at least another two hours. I stood in our backyard with an old rusty swing set and a half-dead garden as my audience. From the garage, I pulled out an old metal trash can and dragged it out here, along with my rack of costumes and the bins of accessories with the exception of Miss Patty's tiara.

That I put on my own head.

It gave me the courage to drop Cinderella's costume inside the bin and light a match. This was the only way to get rid of these costumes in a blaze of glory, the only glory they'd ever see. It was as close to a Viking funeral as I could manage. These were hard times and I don't think I could get away with throwing everything on a boat and lighting it up that way.

I close my eyes and said a few last words, "I'm sorry it had to end like this. You were beautiful and it was a shame no one is going to see you in your prime, but at least I'll know. That way, you won't be forced to perish without someone remembering you..."

I opened my eyes and struck the match. It burst with light and heat. The wind nearly blew it out, but the little fire stayed strong. I wish I could sympathize. My stomach twisted and I lost a bit of feeling in my limbs as I watched the flame flicker. 

"Here I go..." I said, trying to hype myself up. "I'm gonna do it."

But my hand and arm wouldn't budge.

"Oh my god!" someone yelled.

Barreling across my lawn, Norah Brady in all her glory kicked the trash can out of the way and blew out my match. I yelped out of surprise and stumbled back. She snapped her head at me, wearing a crazed frantic look.

"Are you an actual psychopath?!" she yelled. I don't think I had ever seen Norah shout before and it was the most shocking part of it all. All I could do was stare at her, slightly scared and equally impressed. "What are you doing? That's my dress! I knew you hated me, but you don't have to burn my dress."

Shaking my head, I found my voice and fired back. "It's not just about you! I was gonna burn all the costumes, so don't be so full of yourself—"

Norah unleashed an earth rattling groan as she threw her head back, pressing her wrists to her eyes. Norah's black curls bounced as she moved. She wore bright colored jeans, rolled up with a darker jean jacket over a mock turtleneck sweater.

On the jacket, over the breast pocket was a sewn patch that read "Hello my name is..." and in the blank write, someone sewed, "that bitch."

God. Why was she so cool? I hated her so much, mocking me with her awesomeness. 

"Jesus!" Norah yelled, snapping me out of my daze. I was half dead and almost completely made out of misery, but at least clothes could still cast a spell on me. "What's your problem with me?! You've been such an ass to me for no reason!"

My face went up in flames.

Whoa. I never expected to be called out on it.

Flustered, I sputtered as I shouted, trying to rekindle my nerve in this cold climate. "No reason? I have a good reason, but I guess you'd forget! When we first met," I pointed an accusing finger at her cute button nose, "you left me with all of Mrs. Dennard's trash to throw out. You ditched me and took the credit!"

"Okay." She threw her hands up in defeat and said, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. That was kind of a dick move. My bad."

"Okay." I squinted as she bent down to pick up the costume I made for her, for Cinderella. She brushed off the dirt, hugging the bustle of fabric closer.

"And what else?"

"What do you mean what else?"

Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms. "What else did I do?"

"I don't know!" I started gesturing to her entire being. "You've just- You've- uh?"

Norah's mouth dropped so hard I thought her jaw was going to pop off. "That's the reason you've been giving me hell! Fuck, Parker! There's more to people than your first impression of them, you know!"

"I know that!" I said, but I didn't think about it until right now. I thought back to every moment after that, every horrible painful moment between Norah and me... which made me realize, all that tension was of my own making. I pushed that narrative onto Norah and she couldn't do anything about it. 

My body softened along with my voice. "I know... I'm sorry, but..." My mind felt like a wad of paper that I now needed to unfold and smooth out, but the ink was all smudged and I couldn't even read my own ugly handwriting. "Then, I guess, you and Camille started getting close and I guess—I guess I was jealous."

Norah's eyes bugged out. She stabbed a finger into her chest. "You were jealous of me? I was jealous of you! God! It's like I can't compete with you at all! You're so fucking cool! You're from New York..." She rolled her eyes and even though she was saying all the reasons I was cool, she whined about them and waved her hands around more like I was the most annoying kid on the planet. "You make your own clothes and costumes and you know everything about Broadway. Meanwhile, I'm just me! I'm just some normal girl who can't compete with the girl that walked out of a cool indie teen movie. I've never even seen a musical all the way through before!"

"Normal? Norah, you're not normal. You're a track star and you're like the best dresser at school. I mean, God you look so cool all the time and you're nice, like genuinely nice and I don't know how to deal with that. You're also freaking Cinderella! Norah, we're total equals."

With a snort, Norah rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, sure. That's not what Camille thinks. God, half the time we're together she's always talking about you. If you and Lizzie didn't start dating, I don't think she'd ever even give me the time of day..."

With that, it was like the last piece of the puzzle sunk into place.

A switch inside of me flicked on.

I blinked. "Are you... Are you two dating?"

Norah froze, her face reddened and panic flickered across her face, which just made me start freaking out. "Oh my god. Oh my god."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Norah hit me with my own dress. "We're not dating! Not like officially but we've been talking—" Her face burned even brighter. "You absolutely can't say anything to Camille! This isn't for me to tell you!"

"I won't! I promise!"

Norah took a deep breath to calm herself down. She looked into my eyes, maybe searching for a bit of confidence that I could keep my big mouth shut, which I deserved. If I were her, I wouldn't trust me either. 

Finally, I admitted, "Wow. I probably haven't made it easy on you."

"No." Norah cracked a smile. "No, you haven't. I don't think you know how to do anything easily."

That made me laugh. "I think you're right. Damn. We could've been friends, huh?"

"We still can be." She shrugged. "As long as you promise not to burn all the costumes."

"Promise."

She laughed and helped me move all the costumes back into my bedroom. She told me everything that was going wrong with the play and how it was pretty much over. Norah hopped onto my kitchen counter as I made us a couple of cups of coffee. She explained, "Yeah, I overheard Mrs. Donnelly on the phone with someone, basically explaining how we don't have enough people in the cast as extras and how we're basically running on empty. Plus, Jordan keeps knocking over the set and our costumes are a joke without yours."

"What are you guys going to do?"

"I don't know, but if we don't do anything, the play just isn't going to happen."

My stomach twisted as I watched the coffee brew. The warm smell filled the house and lured Hayden downstairs. He did a double-take at Norah, but didn't ask questions. He just introduced himself and they started chatting about school. I couldn't put down this thought, thinking about the play being cancelled. If that were to happen, Camille wouldn't get to have her debut. Four years she had waited for a title role and all that waiting and hard work was about to be ripped from underneath her.

There had to be something I could do to help.

Hayden stared at me for about twenty years before he asked, "Parker, why are you wearing a crown?"

#

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, last update of the day XD After the break-up scene, a bunch of words really started pouring out of me. I'm SO excited about this update. It's been my DREAM to write since I started the book. I know so many people had their theories about Norah and how she actually wasn't that bad and you're right! She wasn't XD It's such a funny reveal to me. 

Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think! What did you think about Parker's moment with Miss Patty? How did you feel when she tried to give back the tiara? And Norah! What did you think about their fight? How dramatic do you think Parker can get? LOL

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